


Nine Weeks

by 5mallestviolin



Series: Wrapped [2]
Category: Veronica Mars (TV), Veronica Mars - All Media Types
Genre: AU, F/M, Fluff, Piz burn, UST, a bit smutty
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-13
Updated: 2021-02-13
Packaged: 2021-03-18 11:35:07
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,481
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29367861
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/5mallestviolin/pseuds/5mallestviolin
Summary: After a chance encounter with high school classmate Logan Echolls on Christmas Eve, Veronica settles down to start work as an FBI Agent in LA.  But finding a decent place to live is harder than it looks.Happy Galentine’s Day to Time_streams.Thankyou so much to Aurora2020 for the very speedy beta.
Relationships: Logan Echolls/Veronica Mars
Series: Wrapped [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2157243
Comments: 23
Kudos: 51
Collections: VMFF Galentine's Day Gift Exchange





	Nine Weeks

**Author's Note:**

  * For [time_streams](https://archiveofourown.org/users/time_streams/gifts).



**Prologue**

“It’s the perfect solution, Veronica! You need a place to stay. Duncan asked Lilly to sublet his room in their old apartment until the lease is up in case he decides to come back from DC.”

“I don’t know, Meg. I don’t think I could afford any place that Lilly and Duncan would have leased.”

“Oh, Veronica, stop worrying! It’s not nearly as much as you think. Think of it as house sitting rather than a lease. They’ve left some things in the other bedroom until we get back from Europe. So it’s like you’re sharing the place with a roommate and the roommate’s never there.”

“Are you sure, Meg? It doesn’t sound quite right.”

“You’re just being suspicious, Veronica. Being with the FBI, that probably comes in handy, but Lilly promises me it’s just easier for her this way.”

Warning bells continued to go off in her head, but then Meg uttered the magic words, “And you can move the hell out of the place you are staying now. Goodbye and good riddance to that creepy radio DJ with the weird-ass name.”

Veronica felt her resolve weakening. “It would be good to move out of the apartment and away from Piz,” she said, naming the public broadcasting DJ whose Craigslist advertisement for a roommate she had answered just after Christmas. He had seemed ok, if a little overeager and she had run him, naturally enough, through the law enforcement databases she had access to and he was clean. But nothing could have prepared her for the unrelenting persistence that was Piz. To Veronica, most roommates were people you shared an apartment with, were civil to. If you were lucky, they might be someone you could hang out with occasionally, have a beer with or split a pizza. Eventually you might become friends. But not Piz. 

“You said, and I quote, Veronica, that he is like an overactive puppy dog on Adderall. He’s constantly hanging around you, playing you music, asking you out to gigs for his dreadful indie band. He really believes they are overlooked because they refused to kowtow to major labels.“

“I know. That they are overlooked because they are, well, crap seems to be beyond his comprehension. “ 

“He also has developed a major crush on you.”

“I was hoping he hadn’t.”

“He asked me when I thought you might be over your breakup with Leo. And would surprising you with a romantic night on Valentine’s Day be ‘your kind of thing’?”

“Oh, god.”

“Think about it, Veronica. Move in here. Do Lilly a favor. Do yourself a favor. Get yourself away from the creepy Piz and you have six months to find another place to stay.”

“When you put it like that, it does sound kind of appealing.”

“There’s a reason Piz can’t keep a roommate, Veronica. And you’ve only been there two weeks.”

“You know exactly how to get me where it counts.”  
  


^^^^^

  
  


**Week 1**

Veronica moved in the last week in January. She forfeited a month’s rent to Piz and escaped hastily, without even glancing back. 

Lilly had left her a note with information and tips about the apartment. 

**Gym in the building is good, but avoid going at 6pm weekdays. That's when the ‘only men can lift weights properly’ dickwad from Apartment 3b goes.** Veronica makes a point to go there then, in an FBI training T-shirt, where she promptly benches her own weight. Bill from 3b turns out to be a decent guy, married with a kid on the way. Veronica meets Sarah, his wife, and they exchange cookie recipes. Veronica makes a mean snickerdoodle, but Sarah’s triple chocolate chip are decadent heaven. Apparently Lilly’s version of a dickwad is anyone who doesn’t think the building gym needs its own juice bar.

**Deli down the road has bagels almost as good as New York.** Lilly has obviously spent too much time on low-carb diets because they are nowhere near as good as New York.

**Collection of nearby takeout menus are in the third drawer in the kitchen. Don’t get takeout Chinese from Liu’s Kitchen. They’re stingy with egg rolls. Mr Ping’s is better and the noodle soup is to die for** . She had the noodle soup her first night, and it was, indeed, to die for. At least Lilly was right about something

**Mrs Lopez, the cleaning lady, comes on Thursdays. The doorman gives her a key, and she returns it to him when she leaves.** Veronica felt a little awkward. She’d never had a cleaning lady in her life, but with the amount she was saving on rent staying here, she can afford it and work is really, really busy.

Not willing to trust someone in her apartment she has never met, Veronica worked late on Wednesday to meet Mrs Lopez when she came in to clean on Thursday morning. Mrs Lopez talked about Mr Duncan and Mr Logan and Miss Lilly and Veronica suddenly realized Logan must have slept there. Logan Echolls. From Neptune High. Lilly’s ex-fiance. Veronica’s Christmas one-night-stand.

The sex had been good. Great. Okay, incredible even. She hadn’t had six orgasms in one night in a long time,  _ be honest Veronica, you’d never had six orgasms in a single night before, _ but they’d gone their separate ways on Christmas morning. Him back to LA and his mother’s dinner. Her to her Dad’s place for lunch where she had avoided awkward questions about being out all night with vague references to catching up with her friend Mac and distracting them with the news that Meg had run off to Vegas to marry Lilly Kane.

But now, all she could think about was Logan. She wondered if Lilly still had anything of his in the other bedroom. She’s never opened the door, never even thought about it. But now it’s all she can think about.

Flashbacks of that night. Of his hands, his mouth, his body on hers. Of riding him as he lay back on the impersonal hotel bed, one of his hands curled around her hip, the other on her clit. Thoughts started to creep into her head, of him, naked, on the bed in the adjacent bedroom.

Resolutely she pushed them away. Reminded herself she was a professional. An FBI agent. Not some creepy stalker.

^^^^^

  
  


**Week Two**

Logan got off the plane, exhausted. Navigating his way through passport checks and baggage collection, he headed out to the car waiting for him, pleased he had remembered to order it before he left Australia. The fifteen hour flight was tiring, but less so than trying to convince the obnoxious showrunner on the series he had gone out to work on that continuity in the character arcs was important. Ready to quit if he heard the dolt utter ‘I’m not pandering to fans’ one more time in the writer’s room, he was grateful his agent had included a clause in his contract that could get him off the production gracefully. He had only taken the job to get out of LA after his dramatically-ended engagement to Lilly Kane, but it was saying something that he’d rather face the Hollywood gossip than spend any longer as a writer on the dumpster fire that John Thomas’ latest series was on its way to becoming. 

He arrived at the apartment he shared with his oldest friend and ex-fiancé‘s brother, Duncan Kane, mid-afternoon. Duncan had moved to DC to work for a Supreme Court judge and wasn’t likely to return, and, to tell the truth, he was looking forward to a few weeks of solitude in his own space. If he was being honest, as much as he liked DK, it was probably for the best that his ex-fiancé's brother moved out. Letting himself into the apartment, he headed straight to his bedroom, pausing only to strip down to his boxers before pitching himself face first on the bed in utter exhaustion.

Veronica arrived home from work about 11pm. She had gone out for drinks with a couple of other agents and was now looking forward to nothing more than an eight-hour date with her mattress after a very busy week. She dropped her keys on the hall table and headed for bed. 

At about 2am, noises coming from the living spaces awoke Veronica. Pulling on a t-shirt, she retrieved her FBI issue service weapon and cracked open the door of her room to peer out. She saw that the door to the other bedroom was ajar and could hear someone moving around in the kitchen. Quietly moving through the door, she had enough time to register a tall, fit male clad only in boxers at the refrigerator before shouting, “Freeze, FBI!”

A carton of orange juice in his hand, Logan spun around. Veronica had a flash of recognition and stepped forward out of the shadows so he could see her, saying, “Logan?”

Seeing the pretty blonde goddess who had been invading his dreams since Christmas standing in front of him dressed in a short t-shirt was surprising, but having her aiming a gun at him was not part of his fantasy and he squeaked out, “Veronica,” as he raised both hands, orange juice and all. Recovering, he said, “What are you doing here?”

Realizing, as his hands went up, that she still had her weapon pointed at him, she lowered it quickly and said, “I live here. What are you doing here?”

“I just flew in from Australia,” he replied, lowering his hands and putting the orange juice on the counter. “Did you say you live here?”

“Umm, Meg and Lilly arranged for me to rent out Duncan’s room. They went to Europe for the year and with Duncan in DC for six months, they wanted someone to be in the place. Why are you here? Didn’t you move out after Lilly broke up with you?”

“This is my apartment.”

“I thought it was Lilly and Duncan’s apartment.”

“No, it's my apartment. DK lives here too, but it’s my apartment.”

“Oh, that’s not what I was told.”

“I think I may need to talk to Lilly.”

“And I think I need to talk to Meg. They’re in Italy, so it's late morning there. I’m just going to call,” and she started to head back to the bedroom to get her phone. Noting he hadn’t moved, but was watching her, she said, “Could you maybe call Lilly?”

“Ah, yeah. Sorry, I zoned out. Jet lag,” he said by way of explanation. “You’re obviously in Duncan’s room.”

“Yeah.”

“Look, it’s really late and I’ve got shocking jet lag. Why don’t we head back to bed and call them in the morning our time? A few extra hours won’t matter.”

“Head back to bed,” repeated Veronica.

“I mean, obviously to our separate bedrooms. I didn’t mean anything else,” said Logan quickly.

“Oh, of course. I didn’t think anything else,” answered Veronica just as quickly. “That sounds like a good idea.”

****

In the morning, Veronica came out of her bedroom to the siren scent of fresh coffee brewing. She’d had a restless night after encountering Logan in the early hours, in part because of the thought of trying to find another apartment at short notice, but also because of the feelings his presence inspired.  _ It was just rebound sex, nothing more _ , she kept reminding herself. So why did she feel so  _ bothered? _

“Ah, morning Logan,” she said awkwardly.

“Hi Veronica,” he replied. “Coffee?” he asked, gesturing to the pot.

“Please,” she answered and accepted the cup he poured. Heading to get cream and sugar, she spoke again, “I spoke to Meg, and she said you were talking to Lilly. She said they believed you were going to be away for the six months I was here. And that you’d probably move out.”

“Yeah, so Lilly said. She had somehow got the impression that the apartment was Duncan’s and that I moved in with him. Didn’t realize it was mine and the other way around. Duncan had been going to buy a place, but didn’t bother after he decided he was going to aim for a career in Washington. Duncan said to Lilly that it would probably be good to get someone to look after the place while we were away, but didn’t realize she had moved you in either. At least he didn’t arrive back for a flying visit and find you in his bed.”

Veronica was mortified. “Look, I’ll start looking for a new place. It might take a couple of weeks, but I’ll get out of your hair as soon as I can.”

“There really is no need to hurry, Veronica. I know it might be awkward at first, but why don’t we see how it goes for a few weeks and if it's not working, I’ll help you find another apartment.”

“Lilly told you about my first roommate in LA, didn’t she?”

“Yeah. She was feeling kind of guilty because she was supposed to have told Duncan and I that you had moved in and she forgot.”

“I’m really not a pity case, Logan. I have a good job here, I can find another apartment.”

“You’re not a pity case, Veronica. I actually do like having a roommate, but it’s not exactly something I can just advertise for. You’re in the FBI, for heaven’s sake, I can trust you not to sell my secrets to some tabloid.”

“You’re sure?” she asked again.

“I’m sure,” he answered.

“Do you have any secrets worth trying to sell to a tabloid?”

“Not really. You might get a hundred for a ‘boxers or briefs’ expose.”

“What?” she asked incredulously.

“This is LA. Just about everything is for sale.”

^^^^^

** Week 3 **

Logan is surprisingly easy to live with. Apart from a distressing tendency to hog the remote control, and then lose it, he is a pretty easy roommate.  _ Easy on the eyes as well _ , she thought.

On February 14th, Logan asked casually, “Do you have a date tonight?”

Surprised by his question, because really, that was the last thing she expected him to say, she replied quickly, “No. Why?”

“I just thought, Valentine’s Day and all that.”

“Ah, no. You?”

“No. Not sure I’m up to dating yet,” he replied. She flinched, just a micro-expression, but he saw it and mentally kicked himself for saying this. Giving her the impression that she was just a distraction, that he’s not interested in her.  _ But he’s not, is he? Surely it’s too soon.  _ “I just meant that I’m taking a break from dating. Give myself the time to be sure I’m over Lilly.”

“Oh, okay,” she replied, taken aback by her powerful reaction to his first answer and oddly reassured by the second.

“I was planning on getting takeout and watching action movies. You’re welcome to join me,” he said.

“I’m not sure,” she said. Looking at him speculatively, she asked, “What sort of action movies? Has to be worth my while.”

“Bond movies? Car chases, things blowing up, a cat stroking villain, paper thin plots.”

“Cheesy spy movies. I could go for that.” 

Late that night, after they had watched two Bond movies and debated Connery vs Craig, having decided that the ones in between weren’t up to much, they both retired to their respective rooms. 

In her room, Veronica changed into pajamas, body thrumming with repressed desire as she got into bed. It was going to take some time, she decided, getting used to Logan as a roommate as opposed to onetime lover and recent star of her sexual fantasies. She tossed and turned until she eventually fell asleep, but her dreams were all of him. Thinking of him urging her up to sit on his face. Of his tongue and lips doing wicked things to her and one finger lightly tracing around her ass. She awoke several hours later, sweaty and aroused, and reached for the vibrator in her bedside drawer.

Logan headed for the shower and, cock in hand, relived the memory of her on Christmas Eve. Remembering her above him, riding him. Flushed and sweaty and sexy as hell. He groaned as he came and thought;  _ It was going to be a long six months _ .

^^^^^

  
  


** Week 4 **

Veronica pulled on her leggings, sports bra and a tank before grabbing her shoes, keys and a mini taser to head out for a run. She ran every couple of days, on the treadmill if need be, but she preferred getting outside when she could and was looking forward to feeling the burn in her legs. She headed out to the living room and stopped short at the sight of Logan in running shorts and a tank, bending down to lace up his own running shoes.  _ Now that is one fine ass _ , she thought. He looked up at her and she ruthlessly quashed her wayward mind.

“You run?” he asked.

“Yeah. A few times a week. Helps me keep in shape for the job. You?”

“Same. Well, not for the job, but it helps me keep in shape, and I tend to nut out plot points as I go. I head out a few times a week. Treadmill if I have to, but I prefer the trails.”

“I haven’t tried out the trails yet. I’ve mainly just been running the nearby streets. Helps me to get to know the area,” she said as she laced up her shoes.

“If you want to try the trails, I could show you where I run sometime,” offered Logan.

“That would be great. Maybe the weekend if you run then?” she answered.

“It’s a date,” he said, not thinking about the implication of the word. She looked up sharply, and he mentally kicked himself for his choice of word. “Not a ‘date’ date. Just a running date. Two friends going running together.”

Watching him twist himself into knots over a slip of the tongue was funny, but she took pity on him, saying, “So we’re friends now?”

Relaxing at her teasing tone, he answered, “I guess so. I mean, I had a friend spot open up, and you were just there, so…”

“You have a limited number of friend spots?” she asked, almost laughing now.

“Well, of course. This,” he pointed to himself, “is exclusive territory. Can’t let just anyone in,” he said, leaning fully into the joke.

“Oh my, oh my,” she responded, voice taking on a deliberately breathy tone with a broad hint of fake southern belle, “I do declare, Mr Echolls, I have never been so honored.”

They were both laughing as they headed out to run, and Veronica didn’t notice Logan checking out her ass in her form fitting running tights as they walked out the door.

^^^^^

  
  


** Week 5 **

That first movie night, watching Bond flicks turned into a regular thing. A couple of times a week they’d order takeout and watch a double feature of some genre. Eighties romcoms, horror, sci-fi were all given a chance and while they decided John Hughes movies didn’t age well, Ridley Scott was always good, and although Logan was the Star Wars nerd, Veronica was more jealous of his story of meeting Carrie Fisher when he was a teenager than she cared to admit.

She was painting her toenails when she asked, “Was Carrie Fisher really cool?”

“I think more just high.”

“Oh,” she sounded disappointed.

“To be fair, it was at a party of Hollywood people my parents were throwing. Just about everyone was high.”

“Including your parents?”

“My Mom, yeah. Not so much my Dad’s thing. He was more into seducing one of the young starlets that was high. My Mom drank and medicated to deal with his womanizing,” he paused before continuing, “and his abuse.”

Veronica abandoned her toes and looked up at him, “He abused her?”

“You really haven’t heard this? It was all over the papers,” Logan asked, genuinely surprised.

“I just never followed it,” she said.

“You didn’t even look it up, you know, after?” he asked, referring obliquely to the night they spent together.

“I was about to start this job, looking for somewhere to live and, well, it didn’t really seem right. It’s easy in this job to find out too much about people, to get the wrong idea of someone,” she said.  _ And maybe _ , the little voice in her head said,  _ you were hoping he might tell you about it himself _ . “You don’t have to say anything if you don’t want to,” she added.

“It’s okay. But it’s not a pretty story. Aaron, my Dad, started having affairs when Mom was pregnant with me. Probably before, to tell the truth, but by then definitely. After I was born, he started hurting her. Little things at first, grabbing her too hard, pushing and shoving. But he started isolating her, controlling her access to friends, to money, and then she started drinking and taking pills to cope. I was about four when he started hurting me.”

At Veronica’s sharp intake of breath, he looked over, then looked down again, “She threatened to leave him, but by then he had control over all of her life and she was an addict. He told her if she left she would never see me again, so she just kept drinking and popping pills to dull the pain,” he said. “And the shame. He abused us both for a while, but by the time I was about 11, 12, she was so far gone he would just turn to me. His action hero parts were drying up by then, and he wasn’t happy about it.”

“Did no one ever notice? A doctor? A teacher? A nanny?”

“Aaron Echolls was nothing if not thorough. The nannies were all illegals. They knew if they said anything, he would have them deported. We changed doctors frequently, he paid some off and we moved to Neptune because there weren’t enough left in LA to keep calling my injuries accidents. And as for teachers, do you remember Miss Thomas, in junior high?”

“She’s the one who left suddenly, some scandal with her qualifications?”

“She started asking questions soon after we arrived. Aaron hired a PI, kept digging till they found some dirt. It was a minor transgression, an error on her transcript that she had fixed, but they made it look like she was a liar and cheat and unfit to teach. The school fired her to keep their big new movie star parent happy,” said Logan. “He then made sure I knew to keep it hidden, because it would be my fault if any other pretty, young, teachers lost their careers.”

“He was a monster,” Veronica said matter-of-factly.

“Yes, he was,” replied Logan.

“Is your Mom okay now? You were going to Christmas dinner with her, right?”

“She’s better, at least. Rehab and therapy have been good for her. She’s still kind of fragile, but on the whole she’s okay. She’s started getting a few parts again. She says they’re mostly what she calls young grandma roles, but it’s a start and she’s enjoying it.”

“That’s good,” she said. “I’m sorry you had to go through all that. No child should.” Veronica spoke sincerely, with compassion, but not pity in her voice.

“Thank you. It took its toll in my youth, but it’s a lot easier now he’s dead.”

“Did you ever think of going to the police, to my Dad?”

“Aaron paid off or warned off everyone, and I thought he would be the same at first. By the time I realized he wasn’t, I was about seventeen and I just wanted to get to eighteen so I could get out and be free. I checked Mom into rehab and left to travel a bit for the summer after high school and had picked a college on the other side of the country.”

“Emerson, right?” said Veronica.

Logan looked genuinely surprised that she had remembered that from their conversation in the bar of the Neptune Grand on Christmas Eve. “Yeah.”

“You’re a writer, aren’t you? Did you study English at college?”

“Screenwriting. Aaron was still alive when I started college. It was a way to keep him off my back, but keep the trust fund to pay for college. His grand plan was to have me write vehicles for him to star in. He wanted me to stay in LA, keep me under his thumb, but Emerson has one of the best programs in the country, so he reluctantly agreed I should go. I discovered I liked it and was good at it. After he died, I returned to LA to support my Mom and finished college at UCLA. I know the Echolls name got me work at first after I graduated, but I figure I earned it in blood and bruises over the years.”

“I’m glad he’s dead, Logan.” Veronica was fierce, now. Angry that such a travesty could happen to anyone, but especially to him.

Appreciating her heartfelt defence, Logan said, “Me too. Want to know something else?”

“Sure,” she replied.

“The best revenge is living a better life without him.”

Veronica smiled. 

Logan looked over at her feet. “Are you going to finish painting those?”

“Ah, I’m not sure. I never seem to do them well.”

“Hand over the polish, Mars,” Logan ordered.

Shocked, Veronica exclaimed, “What?”

“I’ll do them for you. It’ll only take 5 minutes.”

“You’ll do them?” Veronica repeated, voice incredulous.

“I’m good too,” Logan stated, matter-of-factly.

“And exactly how did you acquire this skill?” she asked.

“Natural talent, of course,” he smirked.

“That sounds like a load of BS to me,” she retorted.

“How about part of the war wounds of dating Lilly Kane for nine years?” he tried.

“That, on the other hand, does sound plausible.”

“So are you passing me that polish?”

Veronica laughed and handed it over, “Have at it Echolls.”

^^^^^

  
  


** Week 6 **

Veronica was lounging on the couch, flicking through the cable channels, looking for something interesting to watch when a knock at the door pulled her from her reverie. Veronica answered it, horrified to see her ex-roommate Piz at the door, complete with some sad-looking roses, and a heart-shaped box of chocolates.

“Ah, Piz, I really didn’t expect you,” she said warily.

“Veronica, I just had to come. We had a connection, you know, and I know you were trying to repress it when we lived together, but there’s no need. We can be together,” he said confidently

“I think you’ve got the wrong idea, Piz,” she answered carefully.

“But if you just give us a chance, I can show you…”

“I'm not interested, Piz.”

“But surely you can see we would be great together?” he pleaded.

“No Piz,” she said firmly and shut the door.

She turned around to see Logan standing, shirtless, a few feet behind her. “Who was that?”

“The roommate I escaped,” she answered.

“He really is persistent.”

“More than I thought.”

There was another knock at the door. Veronica answered, ready to do battle, “What do you want Piz?”

Piz reached for her hand, “Please, Veronica. I know we would be good together.”

Logan stepped up behind her and wrapped one long arm around her waist as he leaned on the doorjamb, “Who’s this, Sugarpuss?”

Veronica stiffened and Logan lowered his lips to her ear, muttering, “Just go with it.”

Piz looked taken aback. “Who’s this?”

Logan stuck his hand out, “Logan Echolls. An old,” and he paused a moment, “friend of Veronica’s. And you are?”

“Stosh Piznarski, but you can call me Piz. Veronica lived with me.”

“I answered an ad for a roommate, Piz. I didn’t _ live _ with you.” Veronica ground out testily. But the warmth of Logan’s chest directly behind her was distracting, and she didn’t infuse her words with the venom she thought they deserved.

“Did Veronica leave something behind?” asked Logan easily. “Is that why you’re here?” Addressing Veronica, he followed up with, “We could easily have picked up anything you left behind, honey buns.” Looking back up at Piz, he spoke again, a studied air of distraction in his voice, “Oh, was there something else then, Piznarski, was it?”

Piz looked devastated, but took a deep breath and turned to Veronica. “If I could just speak to you for a moment, alone,” he whined.

“I really don’t think we have anything to talk about, Piz. I told you before I left I wasn’t interested in you,” and firmly shut the door in his face.

Logan stepped immediately back and let her go. She felt a sudden sense of bereftness, but turned to face him, “You didn’t need to do that. I was handling it.”

“I have no doubt that you could. But he’s the type who fancies himself a nice guy but doesn’t want to take no for an answer. I just wanted to avoid anyone getting hurt.”

“Pfft, that twerp couldn’t have hurt me.”

“Not you, him. He didn’t stand a chance. But, blood is so hard to get out of these carpets, and just think of the paperwork if you had hit him.”

Mollified, she said, “I guess. Although it may have been worth it.”

Logan laughed. 

^^^^^

** Week 7 **

Veronica’s key in the lock signalled her return from work. _ She was late; _ Logan thought suddenly,  _ really late, _ and he tried not to think too hard that he already knew her schedule. He glanced up to look at her from the couch where he was reading and was shocked to see her looking pale, washed out and distressed. He quickly got up from his position to go to her, “Hey, is everything okay?”

She stopped in front of him and said, clearly stressed, “I shot someone. Today I shot someone. I’ve never done that before.”

Without a second thought, he enfolded her in an embrace, saying, “It’s okay. You’re going to be okay.” She burrowed into him, seeking his warmth, and they stood there, still, in the soft glow of the reading lamp in the living room, giving and taking comfort.

A half hour later, Veronica was sitting with Logan on the couch, a glass of wine in front of her. “He was threatening his victim. We had a tip, were sweeping the building and he was in the room I entered. He swung his gun around to shoot her and I shot him.”

Logan was careful. He wasn’t a therapist, but he knew she needed reassurance. She needed the truth. “He was a threat, Veronica. You said he was armed, had already killed. You did what you had to do to keep the victim safe, to keep yourself safe.”

“They teach us to aim for center mass, you know,” she whispered. “I missed. I hit him in the shoulder. My partner followed me in and kicked his gun away.”

“I think you did your job, Veronica. You shot him to protect a life. You hit him, disabled him, a moving target. You did the right thing.”

“I know. I’ll be okay, but it’s just hard, you know, to realize you’ve just shot another human being.”

“It’s okay, Veronica. It sounds like a pretty normal reaction.”

“I think I need something to distract me.”

“I could put on some music, maybe a movie?”

“A movie sounds good. Something silly and funny.”

“The Producers?” he asked, knowing it was something they both liked.

“Sounds perfect,” she answered.

He set up the movie to watch and when he returned to the couch, she instinctively moved in to lean on him, seeking his warmth, his strength. They fell asleep like that, and when she woke in the early hours, she found herself wrapped around him, enfolded in his embrace. Embarrassed, she untangled herself from him and snuck away to her room.

^^^^^

**Week 8**

“Can I ask you a favor?” Logan looked harassed and a little nervous.

“That’s usually my line, but shoot.”

“Would you be interested in getting dressed up really fancy and coming with me to an awards night?”

“What?”

“Um, I’m supposed to attend an awards night next Sunday, and I was going to take my Mom, but she’s cancelled. Want to come?”

“Um, what’s in it for me?”

“You get to meet celebrities?” he said, uncertain.

“Really not my thing, Logan,” she said good-humoredly. “Got anything better?”

“Free food, open bar and I’ll owe you a favor?”

“Now you’re speaking my language,” she retorted. 

“Do you have a gown you can wear for this?” he asked. “It’s kind of formal.”

“I have one. It's a few years old, or I can borrow one from a friend.”

“Lilly left a bunch in my closet, you could borrow one of those. She was only a little taller than you.”

Veronica looked down at her small chest pointedly and said, “Um, I don’t know how to put this, but Lilly was kind of differently endowed to me. I’m not sure anything would fit.”

“You have a point,” said Logan. Suddenly realizing his words might offend, he stammered, “Not that there’s anything wrong with your, um, assets, but you and she are quite different.”

Veronica tried to look offended but failed, laughing instead at his discomfort. “It’s fine, Logan. I’m pretty secure in my body. I’m no busty bombshell, but that’s probably a good thing for someone wanting a career in the FBI.”

Logan looked relieved. “Um, I can probably call my Mom’s stylist, Lucille. She can usually get a load of gowns you can borrow.”

“Sure, I guess. The long dress I have is black, or there is the red cocktail dress I wore at Christmas. Does it have to be a particular style or color?”

Logan’s mouth went dry and his pants tightened at the thought of Veronica in that short, sexy, strapless red sheath he had stripped off her on Christmas Eve. Regretfully, he said, “I think it's a long dress kind of thing, but I’m just going to check with the stylist. What size would you be?”

“A two,” she replied.

“Okay,” he replied, thinking,  _ I’m going to ask for something in red _ .

^^^^^

  
  


** Week 9 **

It astonished Veronica when four dresses turned up on Friday afternoon, complete with labels and instructions for hair and makeup. 

“Lucille said she’d have come over, but she’s fully booked for the weekend. I swear Mom probably cancelled Lucille before she even told me. I hope you don’t mind, but I sent her a picture of you so she could select the best colors.”

“They’re great, Logan. I’m sure one will be perfect,” said Veronica, and headed into her bedroom to try them on. 

She discarded the ‘Stand out’ and ‘Fade into the background’ options of a sequined halter neck backless top with transparent chiffon skirt and a tasteful but boring yellow high necked column and instead turned her attention to the two marked ‘Go with the flow’ and ‘Knock him dead’. ‘Go with the flow’ was a strapless navy satin sheath which fit her like a glove. A dress she’d buy for herself, she thought, if she could afford it. 

‘Knock him dead’ was a different matter, a masterpiece in red silk. A demure neckline at the front was more than made up for with a slit up her left leg to high thigh, and a deep cowl back that dipped to just above the cleft of her ass, exposing the long column of her spine. In heels with her hair styled in a soft, tousled, up-do, it really was a knockout. Far more daring, far more risqué, than anything she had ever worn, she regretfully took it off and decided on the navy. It was lovely, really. Beautiful fabric that fit her perfectly. The perfect dress for a friend date. She hung them all in her closet, the navy sheath at the front, but the red dress had a siren’s call, whispering sex appeal, seduction, and sin.

On Sunday, Veronica was in the kitchen, eating a late lunch to tide her over before she changed for the evening. Logan came in through the front door, suit bag over his arm, talking to someone on his phone. “I’m sure you’ll be fabulous, darling. Are we still on for Wednesday night?”

The person on the other end of the line said something that made him laugh, and he replied, “I’ll pick you up at seven.”

Veronica found herself unreasonably curious about Logan’s Wednesday night date. Wednesday was the night they sat on the couch eating takeout and watching movies. Wednesday was her night. As he laid out the suit bag on the dining table and unzipped it to check his tux, Veronica said, as casually as she could muster, “So, no movies this Wednesday?”

Distracted, Logan said, “Sorry, what?”

“No movies this Wednesday? I overheard you when you came in.”

Logan was still checking his suit and replied off-handedly, “Yeah, sorry. I’m going out to dinner.”

Veronica was gobsmacked. Just a few weeks ago he was saying he wasn’t ready to date and now he already had one. It was like he hadn’t even given her a second thought.  _ Or maybe he had _ , she thought, self-doubt worming its way into her mind.  _ Maybe that night hadn’t been as memorable to him as it had been to her? Maybe he didn’t feel the pull she had towards him? _ Pushing the self-doubt away, she came to a decision,  _ I’m not giving up without a fight! _

Oblivious to the war going on in Veronica’s mind, Logan turned to her and asked, “Which dress did you pick? I’ll match my tie.”

“The red.”

Logan turned away, grinning wolfishly.

*****

Sheer dumbstruck awe replaced the wolfish grin. When Veronica walked out several hours later in that sinfully sexy red dress, Logan stood stock-still, pausing in the process of knotting his tie. Veronica sashayed up to him, one bare leg peeking out from the slit in the skirt where he swore he could see the edge of a stocking and the whisper of silk against her skin invading his brain. She took the tie from his hands and knotted it for him and as she turned away, and he spotted her long, bare, back, it gratified her to hear his sharp intake of breath.

“You look incredible, Veronica,” stumbled out, as he fell back on the manners his mother had drilled into him as a child.

She smiled the smile of a woman who knew her arrow had hit its mark.

****

Unfortunately, that seemed to be the only arrow that did. Logan slipped into the role of urbane escort for the rest of the night. If his hand seemed to linger on the bare skin at the small of her back as he ushered her to the waiting car, to the ballroom and to their seats, it was fleeting, momentary, impossible to distinguish if deliberate or accidental. He introduced her to his colleagues with perfect courtesy, and they applauded the winner and commiserated amongst themselves when they lost their category, even though they had not expected the win. Eschewing invitations to after parties, Logan escorted her home with the same exquisitely correct behavior, by which time Veronica was thoroughly confused, and more than a little frustrated. 

He was obviously controlling his behavior, because that initial reaction to her dress had been there, had been obvious.  _ So what was going on? _

****

She took his breath away. 

When she walked into the room in that dress, he had almost stopped breathing. When she fixed his tie, his eyes darkened, and he felt the stab of desire arrow straight to his belly. When she turned around, he saw the gentle curve of her neck, and the firm line of her bare back to the shadow in the cowl at the top of her ass and went instantly hard. He gulped.  _ How in hell’s name was he going to get through this night without either embarrassing himself or just lifting that skirt and burying himself in her? _

He’d asked Lucille to include something red, something sexy, but this dress, on Veronica, was something else completely. Not sexy.  _ Incendiary _ .

He averted his eyes and started thinking about baboons, sea cows, bad showrunners, anything else ugly or irritating to get his raging hard on under control.  _ Did he have time to head to his bathroom to jerk off _ , he thought suddenly. The way he felt right now, he would be lucky to last a minute.

Getting himself under at least a modicum of control, he quickly pulled on what he thought of as his ‘Echolls mask’. The rigid behaviors he had learned to keep the press and paparazzi at bay, a combination of the good manners his mother had taught him and the practiced indifference which made him uninteresting to the press, the mask that afforded him a little privacy growing up in Hollywood with famous parents, the mask that gave Aaron fewer reasons to beat on him.

And he kept it on all night. Kept himself ruthlessly under control. If his hand lingered a little too long at the small of Veronica’s back as he guided her, on that soft skin over lean muscle, and if his eyes kept being drawn back to the curve of her neck or the line of her leg, well that couldn’t be helped, it was natural. If he sported half wood the entire night, it didn’t matter so long as he just  _ kept himself under control _ .

****

When they returned to the apartment, Veronica turned to face him almost as soon as they closed the door behind them. Whatever was going on with him ended now.

“Veronica,” he started, but she stopped him. Stepping forward to close the distance between them, she lifted her mouth and touched her lips to his.

The floodgates opened. Logan’s arms went around her and he spun her around till she was up against the wall beside the door, mouth to mouth. His kiss was longing and urgent and desperate and when her tongue brushed the seam of his lips, he opened to her, deepening the kiss. His tongue swept the inside of her mouth as his hands ran down her sides past her waist to her hips and she grasped his neck, pulling him closer, pushing her body against his, eager to feel his arousal, to feed hers.

He was rock hard and desperate to feel her against his skin. He started to inch her dress up, but frustrated with its length, he simply picked her up and carried her to his bedroom. Laying her on the bed, he quickly shed his jacket, tie and shirt. Veronica lay back on the bed watching him until he was shirtless in front of her. Then she sat up and reached for the fastening on his pants, undoing them and pushing them down. His breath hitched, and emboldened, she palmed him through his boxers, and then purposefully hooked her thumbs in the waistband of the shorts and pulled them down over his hips to drop to the floor. Her hand returned to his cock, skin to skin this time, and she stroked him gently at first, then tugging a little harder. She bent her head to take him into her mouth and dropped her hand to massage his balls. Her head bobbed as she licked and sucked, tracing her tongue around the rim to find the little spot that made him groan, “Fuck, Veronica.”

She lifted her head, looked up at him and deliberately blew a cool stream of air across his cock, before after one last lick, she shrugged the top of her dress off her shoulders and allowed it to fall, exposing her breasts to his gaze. He reached for her, but she danced back, eluding his hands to reach back to grab a pillow from the top of the bed. 

She was wet, aroused, and knew exactly what she wanted. She rolled over and positioned the pillow under her elbows before coming up onto her knees and inching her dress up to her waist. His mind blanked momentarily at the sight of her pert ass framed by the straps of the garter belt and intersected by the thin red silk strip of her g-string. She looked back at Logan with a come hither smile.

He accepted the invitation, moving forward quickly to run his hand up her silk clad legs until he encountered the soft skin at the top of her thighs. 

One hand lifted to her slit, sinking his fingers in her wetness, feeling how aroused she was. She moaned, swaying to feel him at her most sensitive area, relieved as his long fingers pulled out to stroke her clit, to feel her shudder at his touch.

“Please, Logan,” she breathed and he stripped her underwear down her legs to her knees. He reached over, opening his bedside drawer to grab a condom, and sheathing himself quickly, he brought his hands back to her to caress her ass before sliding one hand over her hip to her clit. His other hand grasped his cock to brush it against her opening and she wriggled back towards him for more penetration, gasping as he slid in slowly, inexorably. He stilled for a minute, waiting until she had adjusted to his length. Impatient, she started moving and he got the message, withdrawing to the tip before thrusting home hard. He repeated, setting a slow rhythm, massaging around her clit.

She moaned, but it wasn’t enough, she wanted more, needed more. “Harder,” she ordered, pushing her ass back towards him, trying for that little bit more pressure, that little bit more speed. Grabbing both her hips, he complied, increasing his tempo and thrusting harder and faster, pumping in just a tiny bit more each time, the head of his cock hitting her g-spot over and over again.

As her body flushed pink and her breathing hastened, caught, he felt her inner muscles start to spasm around him and he let himself go, balls tightening as he came and they both slumped over on the bed.

He pulled out to roll over beside her, and, after disposing of the condom, he came back to help her out of the red dress, then watched, transfixed, as she unhooked and slid the stockings down her legs. “Veronica?”

“Umm hmm,” she murmured.

“You were so fucking beautiful tonight. I could barely look at you all night, I was afraid I was just going to hustle you into a dark corner to fuck you there and then.”

“I was wondering what happened. You seemed so appreciative one minute and so distant the next,” she said.

“I have spent most of my life in Hollywood and yet I can honestly say I have never seen anyone look more sexy, more desirable than you did in that red dress. And as much as I love it, I’m not sure I could handle seeing you in it in public for at least another five years.”

“Oh,” she replied. She looked over at him nervously, “Logan?”

“Yes?”

“That sounds kind of long term, but, what is this? We’ve established that we are very, very, good at sex together. But other than that, what are we doing?”

“As in?”

“As in a fling? Friends with benefits? A relationship?” she asked.

“I think right now, it’s probably the first. But I am absolutely interested in the last. Or just the second if that’s what you want right now.”

“That’s kind of fast, Logan.”

“We’ve been living in each other’s pockets for a couple of months now and I like you Veronica. Not just physically, although it’s clear we have compatibility in that area, but you’re interesting, funny and smart. I’d like more.”

“I like you too. But how is this,” and she waved her hand between them, “going to work? We live in the same apartment. Isn't that going to make a relationship way too fast?”

“Veronica, I’ve spent years chasing after an illusion. I thought Lilly couldn’t commit to me because I wasn’t good enough. Turns out it had nothing to do with me and everything to do with her not really knowing what she wanted. I know what I want now. I want the woman who really hears me when I talk about the past, who is compassionate and fierce with anger on my behalf. I want the woman who stands up for what is right, but needs someone to hold her when that standing up becomes tough. I want to be the person who stands behind her. I want to be the person who gives her some of my strength, so that she can keep standing up. I want you.”

“I want you too, Logan. But maybe I should move out, if we start dating?”

“Sure, if that’s what you want. But you don’t have to. I think we can make it work, or at least try to. I know I’m going to want you in my bed, or me in yours as often as possible, and this arrangement avoids all that awkward carting around a change of clothes time,” he bobbed his eyebrows and she laughed. “Look, it’s not like we have to get rid of separate spaces right away. You keep your room, I keep mine for now and we see how things progress.”

“You’re very convincing,” said Veronica, lifting her hand to his face, brushing across his cheek. Then she remembered, and pulled back her hand with a jerk, “Hold on, you have a date on Wednesday.”

Logan looked confused, “A date? No I don’t.”

”Yes, you do. You were arranging it earlier.”

“I don’t have a date with anyone, Veronica. The only person I’ve been thinking about for weeks is you.”

She got up off the bed and started gathering her clothes, “You’re lying. Logan. I heard you.”

She was hunting around for her underwear, intent on getting out of there quickly as he frantically tried to remember what she could have heard and suddenly remembered, “I was arranging dinner with Trina. My sister,” he explained. “She gets back from New York tomorrow and we are celebrating. She got a part in a play. It’s off-Broadway and she’s not really a very talented actress, but it means a lot to her. I’m having dinner with her and Mom.”

“Oh,” said Veronica, feeling foolish, putting her clothes back down.

“Were you jealous?”

“Yes,” she said simply. “I don’t want to play games. And I might have a few trust issues.”

“Noted. And for the record, I was jealous tonight every time any guy looked at you.”

“You know I only wore that dress to get your attention.”

“Well, I guess we know it worked. Now let me show you how much,” he said as he leaned over and kissed her again before pulling her over beside him on the bed. Ducking his head, he started kissing his way down her body.


End file.
